Firearms generally comprise a barrel structure, a chamber for housing a propellant, and a method of causing the propellant to propel a projectile down the barrel structure. The barrel structure is intended to guide the projectile toward its intended target. Frequently the inner surface of the barrel structure may be caused to have spiral indentations intended to cause the projectile to spin as it travels down the barrel. Such spin imparts stability and may result in a projectile that more consistently travels the path imparted by the barrel assembly. Other embodiments of firearms may have smooth inner barrel structure surfaces. Such other embodiments may rely on other methods of guiding a projectile towards its intended target. In order to guide a projectile towards its intended target, the inner surface of the barrel structure may have an inner diameter that is very close to the outer diameter of the projectile. This closeness in diameter is particularly critical when the barrel is designed to impart a spinning motion on the projectile.
Projectiles are frequently comprised of lead or other malleable material. In addition, some projectiles may have a coating or jacket material such as copper. As these projectiles travel down the barrel, the closeness in diameter causes the projectile to rub against the barrel assembly inner surface. The result may be traces of lead, copper, or other materials deposited from the projectile onto the barrel assembly.
Many embodiments of firearms rely on a propellant such as gunpowder or a similar chemical composition to propel a projectile down the barrel assembly. These designs may use a pressure sensitive substance to ignite the gunpowder in response to a user action such as pulling a trigger device. When the gunpowder ignites, it causes an explosion within a portion of the barrel assembly resulting in a rapidly expanding gas. This gas causes the projectile to travel rapidly down the barrel assembly and then continue on to the intended target. As the result of the exploding gunpowder, chemical particles may be deposited onto the inner surface of the barrel assembly.
As described above, traces of lead, copper, and other materials as well as chemical particles that result from the explosion of propellant may be deposited on the barrel assembly inner surface. Over time, such deposits may damage the surface of the gun barrel assembly and can interfere with the interface between the projectile and the gun barrel. Such interference may result in a reduction of the accuracy and performance of the firearm. As a result, the inner surface of the barrel assembly should be regularly cleaned to remove deposits.
Cleaning devices such as rods or cable devices are known in the art. Such devices commonly have removable cleaning attachments. During an exemplary process for cleaning a barrel assembly these attachments may be removed and replaced with attachments for performing the various steps in the cleaning process. For example, an attachment for holding a cloth saturated with a cleaning solution may be caused to be attached to a cleaning rod. This cloth may then be pushed or pulled through the barrel assembly to cause cleaning solution to be deposited therein. The attachment for holding a cloth may be removed from the cleaning rod and replaced with a brush or scraper device to remove deposits from the barrel assembly. In this exemplary cleaning process the brush or scraper may be removed and replaced with another attachment for holding a cloth that contains a corrosion inhibitor or lubricant material. As with the cleaning solution saturated cloth, this cloth may be pushed or pulled through the barrel assembly to deposit the corrosion inhibitor or lubricant onto the deposited on the barrel assembly inner surface.
As described, it is common for a cleaning process to be performed using multiple steps where each step may require a different attachment. A common problem during the performance of such steps is the recurring need to remove and replace the various attachments used during the cleaning process. Known designs of cleaning attachments, cleaning rods, and cleaning cables use a threaded interface between the rod or cable and the cleaning attachments. Such a threaded interface requires that the user twist the cleaning attachment to engage the threaded interface and continue to twist until the threaded cleaning attachment is fully secured to the rod or cable. In order to accommodate longer gun barrel assemblies, sections of rod or cable are frequently required to be threaded together in a manner similar to what was described for attaching the cleaning attachment. In addition to being time consuming and tedious to assemble, threaded assemblies may be susceptible to cross-threading which may damage or destroy the threaded connection. Such a damaged connection may separate during use, resulting in a cleaning attachment becoming lodged in the barrel assembly or barrel damage from the unsecured cleaning rod or cable. A known improvement to such a threaded connection is a connection that uses an enlarged end located on the cleaning attachment which is inserted into a keyhole shaped receiver located on a cleaning rod or cable. While such a connection eliminates the need to thread a cleaning attachment onto a barrel cleaning rod or cable, it only serves to secure the connection during a pulling motion. A pushing motion may cause this connection to release or become misaligned. The ability to push and pull a cleaning attachment through a gun barrel assembly allows for a more effective cleaning operation and eliminates the need to pull a cleaning attachment through the gun barrel assembly, disconnect the attachment from the cleaning rod or cable, reinsert the cleaning rod or cable, and reattach the cleaning attachment in order to perform the cleaning step a second time. With an attachment method that allows a user to apply a pushing and pulling motion to a cleaning attachment, that user may “scrub” the cleaning attachment back and forth in areas of the gun barrel assembly that require additional cleaning.
What is needed is a device to allow a user to quickly and easily change from one attachment to another during the cleaning process where such a device allows the user to both push and pull a cleaning attachment through a gun barrel assembly without unintended disconnection of the cleaning attachment from the cleaning rod or cable.
In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a bayonet connector type interface between a cleaning rod or cable and cleaning attachment or additional segments of cleaning rod or cable may be formed using at least one engagement tab which protrudes radially from a first section of the interface. A second section of the interface comprises at least one first section of channel to receive the at least one engagement tab. The second section of the interface may also comprise at least one second section of channel which is connected to but diverging at about a right angle from a first section of channel. In the described exemplary embodiment, the first section of the interface is positioned such that an engagement tab of the first section enters a first section of channel of the second section of the interface. The first and second sections may be positioned such that an engagement tab of the first section moves farther into the channel of the second section. Such movement may continue until the first and second sections may not be moved closer together. In the exemplary embodiment, the first section may be rotated in a manner to cause the engagement tab to move from the first section of channel to a second section of channel. Such a rotation may be continued until the engagement tab reaches the end of second section of channel. The second section of channel may further comprise a structure that resists movement of the engagement tab away from the end of the second section. In such an embodiment, the interface may be used to enable a user to connect a cleaning rod or cable to a cleaning attachment or an additional cleaning rod or cable by pushing such rod or cable and cleaning attachment together and partially twisting.